The So-Called 'Quranic' Schools in Tunisia Which, In Fact, Undermine and Disbelieve in the Quran

Published in February 14, 2019

Translated by: Ahmed Fathy

Introduction:

We have received this message from Mrs. Hagar, from Tunisia; we thank her very much and we send to her (and to all free Tunisian citizens) our regards and respect; we quote here part of her message followed by our reply: (... Greetings to you, Dr. Mansour ... I suggest that you would write an article about the so-called 'Quranic' schools for children which are spread in Tunisia now. Children are too young to be taught about religion; besides, such suspicious schools teach nothing but Wahabism, which is the religious of terrorism. Such Wahabi schools prepare children to become terrorists in the future who will threaten Tunisia (and other countries as well, I think). I fear that my country and its citizens will pay the heavy price for the existence and cancerous spread of such Wahabi schools which claim to teach the Quran to children and to make them memorize it, but, in fact, they teach innocent children how to become Wahabi terrorists and extremists when they grow up. How children in Tunisia would be saved from such wickedness and deception?! Any ideas?! Thank you ...).

OUR REPLY:

Firstly: about the so-called 'Quranic' schools:

1- Such schools make people reject, undermine, and cast doubt on the Quran by distorting meanings of Quranic verses to accommodate Wahabi notions of terrorism, mass killings, and grave injustices. Such KSA-sponsored schools (or madrasas) in Afghanistan and Pakistan produced the terrorists of Taliban movement who massacred thousands of innocent people and have committed grave injustices. We fear that such KSA-funded schools in Tunisia will produce terrorists to destroy Tunisia and massacre its citizens.

2- The only solution to avoid such bleak future is to close down such horrid schools forever; education must be in public schools (i.e., run and supervised by the State), and instead of teaching religion to pupils and students, they are to be taught high moralistic values shared worldwide by everyone, which are also the higher values of Islam (i.e., the Quran) without teaching them any Quranic verses in their curricula; children are to be taught religion at their homes (by parents or caregivers) and NOT at any schools at all. Our project of reforming the Egyptian public education curricula and Azharite education curricula in the 1990s caused our severe persecution by the Mubarak regime (incited by the KSA, of course) and our seeking political asylum in the USA.

3- The worst types of the arch-enemies of Islam are those theocrats who abuse the name of Islam as their means to reach power and authority.

4- We provide more details in the points below.

Secondly: the greatness of Real Islam:

1- Islam is the Quran, which is the message of mercy sent to the humankind conveyed by Muhammad: "We did not send you except as mercy to the humankind." (21:107).

2- Islamic higher values include justice, charity, and equity: "God commands justice, and goodness, and generosity towards relatives. And He forbids immorality, and injustice, and oppression. He advises you, so that you may take heed." (16:90); "We sent Our messengers with the clear proofs, and We sent down with them the Book and the Balance, that humanity may uphold justice..." (57:25).

3- Islam is the religion of absolute religious freedom for each individual within bearing responsibility for one's choices (in religion) on the Day of Judgment; this is asserted within hundreds of Quranic verses.

3/1: The Omniscient Lord God is the One Who will judge humanity and settle their differences and disputes in religion: "...Then to your Lord is your return; and He will inform you of what you used to do. He is aware of what the hearts contain." (39:7); "Say, "Our God, Initiator of the heavens and the earth, Knower of all secrets and declarations. You will judge between your servants regarding what they had differed about."" (39:46).

3/2: The Lord God has commanded Muhammad to assert the following: "Say: "O my people, work according to your ability; and so will I. Then you will know who will receive a humiliating punishment, and on whom will fall a lasting torment."" (39:39-40).

3/3: The Lord God has commanded Muhammad to assert the following: "Say, "It is God I worship, with sincere religion due to Him." "But you can worship whatever you wish besides Him."..." (39:14-15). This is absolute religious freedom; this means that no apostates/atheists/disbelievers were punished (or put to death) during Muhammad's lifetime. In the Quran, there is no penalty (exacted by human beings on other human beings) for apostasy or rejecting Islam. This penalty is found only within the devilish religions of the Muhammadans, as their clergymen and sheikhs are the arch-enemies of the Quran.

3/4: Compulsion in religion is prohibited in Islam: "There shall be no compulsion in religion; the right way has become distinct from the wrong way. Whoever renounces evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy handle; which does not break. God is Hearing and Knowing." (2:256). The Lord God has told Muhammad the following: "Had your Lord willed, everyone on earth would have believed. Will you compel people to become believers?No soul can believe except by God's leave; and He lays disgrace upon those who refuse to understand." (10:99-100).

3/5: The Lord God has commanded Muhammad that his sole mission is the convey the Quranic message; he was never to try to convince any stubborn deniers and he should never feel sorry for them. It is the duty of people to seek to guide themselves.

3/5/1: "We did not reveal the Quran to you to make you suffer. But only as a reminder for him who fears." (20:2-3).

3/5/2: "What of him whose evil deed was made attractive to him, and so he regards it as good? God leads astray whomever He wills, and He guides whomever He wills. Therefore, do not waste yourself sorrowing over them. God knows exactly what they do." (35:8); "Perhaps you may destroy yourself with grief, chasing after them, if they do not believe in this discourse." (18:6); "Perhaps you will destroy yourself with grief, because they do not become believers." (26:3).

3/5/3: "And do not be saddened by those who rush into disbelief. They will not harm God in the least. God desires to give them no share in the Hereafter. A terrible torment awaits them." (3:176); "O messenger! Do not let those who are quick to disbelief grieve you-from among those who say with their mouths, "We believe," but their hearts do not believe; and from among the Jews - listeners to lies, listeners to other people who did not come to you. They distort words from their places, and they say, "If you are given this, accept it; but if you are not given it, beware." Whomever God has willed to divert, you have nothing for him from God. Those are they whose hearts God does not intend to purify. For them is disgrace in this world, and for them is a great torment in the Hereafter." (5:41); "Whoever disbelieves - let not his disbelief sadden you. To Us is their return. Then We will inform them of what they did. God knows what lies within the hearts." (31:23).

4- Islam (i.e., Quranism) is the religion of peace.

4/1: The term (Peace) is one of the Holy Names/Epithets of the Lord God: "He is Allah; besides Whom there is no god; the Sovereign, the Holy, the Peace-Giver, the Faith-Giver, the Overseer, the Almighty, the Omnipotent, the Overwhelming. Glory be to God, beyond what they associate." (59:23).

4/2: The term (Peace) is the greeting of Islam: "...But when you enter any home, greet one another with a peace greeting from God, blessed and good. God thus explains the Verses for you, so that you may understand." (24:61); "When those who believe in Our Verses come to you, say, "Peace be upon you..."" (6:54).

4/3: Peaceful behavior is Islam in terms of demeanor when dealing with others; this is the essence of God's Religion mentioned here: "When there comes God's victory, and triumph. And you see the people entering God's Religion in multitudes." (110:1-2); this means that Muhammad saw Arabs of Arabia embrace peace (because Islam is the religion of peace) and stopped their violence, raids, and aggression. Muhammad was never a mind-reader; he never knew that most of them (esp. those nearest to him in Yathreb) rejected and disbelieved in the Quran and will die as unrepentant ones: "Among the Desert-Arabs around you there are some hypocrites, and among the inhabitants of the city too. They have become adamant in hypocrisy. You do not know them, but We know them. We will torment them twice; then they will be returned to a severe torment." (9:101).

4/4: Many Quranic verses urge people to adhere to peace.

4/4/1: "O you who believe! Enter into peace, wholeheartedly, and do not follow the footsteps of Satan; he is to you an outright enemy." (2:208).

4/4/2: "As for those who have not fought against you for your religion, nor expelled you from your homes, God does not prohibit you from dealing with them kindly and equitably. God loves the equitable.But God prohibits you from allying yourselves to those who fought against you over your religion, and expelled you from your homes, and aided in your expulsion. Whoever takes them for allies - these are the unjust ones." (60:8-9).

5- Fighting within Islam is ONLY in cases of self-defense against military attackers/aggressors so that they stop their aggression; this is what should be in a Quran-based country, and this is besides the duty of deterrence (i.e., preparing military might to deter potential aggressors before they attack peaceful citizens) with the aim to stop bloodshed; when peace is offered by the aggressive enemies, real believers must agree and adhere to peace even if these enemies are deceitful: "And fight in the cause of God those who fight you, but do not commit aggression; God does not love the aggressors." (2:190); "...Whoever commits aggression against you, retaliate against him in the same measure as he has committed against you. And be conscious of God within piety, and know that God is with the pious ones." (2:194); "And prepare against them all the power you can muster, and all the cavalry you can mobilize, to terrify thereby God's enemies and your enemies, and others besides them whom you do not know, but God knows them. Whatever you spend in God's way will be repaid to you in full, and you will not be wronged. But if they incline towards peace, then incline towards it, and put your trust in God. He is the Hearer, the Omniscient." (8:60-61).

6- Hence, one of the higher Quranic values of Islam is to preserve and protect lives of human beings and to stop killings, aggression, and injustices.

6/1: This is part of the Quranic Ten Commandments in the Quranic context 6:151-153, indicating the prohibition of murder/killing: "...that you honor your parents; that you do not kill your children because of poverty...and that you do not kill the soul which God has sanctified - except in the course of justice..." (6:151)

6/2: This meaning is repeated twice elsewhere in the Quranic text: "And do not kill the soul which God has made sacred, except in the course of justice. If someone is killed unjustly, We have given his next of kin certain authority. But he should not be excessive in killing, for he will be supported." (17:33); "...do not kill the soul which God has made sacred-except in the pursuit of justice..." (25:68).

6/3: In the Torah, murderers are to be put to death: "We have revealed the Torah, wherein is guidance and light...And We wrote for them in it: a life for a life, an eye for an eye ..." (5:44-45); in contrast, in the Quranic legislations with their ease/facilitation, murderers may be put to death or spared provided that they pay Diyya/compensation money to the family of the victim: "O you who believe! Retaliation for the murdered is ordained upon you: the free for the free, the slave for the slave, the female for the female. But if he is forgiven by his fellow human brethren, then grant any reasonable sum, and pay with good will. This is facilitation from your Lord, and a mercy. But whoever commits aggression after that, a painful torment awaits him." (2:178). The Quran is the Absolute Truth: "With the Truth We sent it down, and with the Truth it descended..." (17:105).

6/4: Those who premeditatedly murder peaceful person(s) [i.e., believer(s) in terms of peaceful behavior] regardless of the victim(s) faith or lack thereof will enter into Hell: "Whoever kills a believer deliberately, the penalty for him is Hell, where he will remain forever. And God will be angry with him, and will curse him, and will prepare for him a terrible torment." (4:93). Even soldiers of the enemies who surrender, adhere to peace, and stop their aggression should never be killed: "O you who believe! When you journey in the way of God, investigate, and do not say to him who offers you peace, "You are not a believer," aspiring for the goods of this world. With God are abundant riches. You yourselves were like this before, and God bestowed favor on you; so investigate. God is well aware of what you do." (4:94); "And if anyone of the polytheists asks you for protection, give him protection so that he may hear the Word of God; then escort him to his place of safety. That is because they are a people who do not know." (9:6).

Thirdly: how to understand the Quran to realize the greatness of Islam:

1- The Quran descended and was revealed as a test for human beings who are free agents on earth; those who seek to undermine and cast doubt on the Quranic verses are warned beforehand here: "Those who argue against Our Verses are not hidden from Us. Is he who is hurled into the Fire better? Or he who arrives safely on the Day of Resurrection? Do as you please; He is Seeing of everything you do." (41:40).

2- Many Quran-hating people undermine and cast doubt on Quranic verses by distorting, twisting, and warping their meanings so as to accommodate any hadiths, fiqh views, prior notions, prejudices, whims, desires, personal preferences, etc. which contradict the Quran. In contrast, those who ardently and sincerely seek Quranic guidance research Quranic verses without trying to impose/refute certain notions; they understand, analyze, and examine Quranic terminology from within the Quranic text itself, without relying on Arabic lexicons and dictionaries or inherited books of traditions/hadiths. They examine terms/topics at hand in all Quranic verses which mention this or that term/topic, while studying their local context (i.e., the verses preceding and following the one being studied) and the larger context of the entire Quranic text by examining all verses covering the same topic and/or mentioning the same term under study. After compiling all these verses to examine and analyze them carefully, Quranist researchers will find the Quranic view regarding any topic.

3- Bearing the above point in mind, we can understand this Quranic verse about the Quran itself: "We send down in the Quran healing and mercy for the believers, but it increases the unjust ones only in loss." (17:82).

4- In light of the above point, we can understand the difference between those who have Quranic knowledge and those who despise the Quran and seek to undermine it: "It is He who revealed to you the Book. Some of its verses are definitive; they are the foundation of the Book, and others are similar. As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow the similar part, seeking dissent, and seeking to derive an interpretation. But none knows its interpretation except God and those firmly rooted in knowledge say, "We believe in it; all is from our Lord." But none recollects except those with understanding." (3:7).

Fourthly: those who build and work inside the so-called 'Quranic' schools disbelieve in the Quran:

1- The hypocrites mentioned in the Quran as adamant in hypocrisy were never known to Muhammad; once he died, they ruled and led Arabs; i.e., the prominent among such hypocrites became the four pre-Umayyad caliphs who committed many atrocities and rejected the Quran. These four sinful pre-Umayyad caliphs are now the main gods of the earthly/terrestrial Sunnite religion of the Muhammadans. For more details about this topic, we refer readers to our book, in English, titled "The Unspoken-of History of the Pre-Umayyad 'Righteous' Caliphs" found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/arabic/book_main.php?main_id=83

2- After the caliphate collapsed in Turkey in 1924 A.D., the Wahabis, past and present, dream of establishing the caliphate/theocracy typical of tyrants like the four sinful pre-Umayyad caliphs and the other caliphs after them; this dream is the basis of establishing the third, current Saudi kingdom by Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud who made his obsequious clergymen teach the Najd Brothers the Wahabi teachings which revives the extremist Sunnite Hanbali religion of bloodshed and violence.

3- The immense Saudi oil revenues have enabled the KSA to spread Wahabism all over the Arab and 'Islamic' world, which is posing as if it were 'Islam'. Among the several Saudi means to do so is funding the so-called 'Quranic' schools which teach Wahabism to children to prepare them to become terrorists who kill others indiscriminately and massacre all non-Wahabis. This is why the ISIS terrorists (with their 'caliph' Abou Bakr Al-Baghdadi) are the natural result of such schools in Tunisia and elsewhere. The ISIS terrorists apply Sunnite hadiths. The late Tunisian president Bourguiba was right in establishing secularism or laïcité in Tunisia in all aspects, especially education, and in removing all sorts of religious education. Sadly, the evil Tunisian Wahabis have gradually restored their authority and power in the Tunisian society by several means including the so-called 'Quranic' schools.

4- Those Wahabis who run and manage the so-called 'Quranic' schools never understand Islam; they specialize in the devilish religion called Wahabism which has nothing to do with Islam; they reject the Quran and believe instead in Sunnite/Hanbali books of hadiths, exegeses/interpretation, and the so-called 'Quranic' sciences; we have a book refuting such devilish 'sciences' and we prove in it how authors of such 'sciences' aim is to undermine and cast doubt on the Quran.

4/1: Those Wahabis who run and manage the so-called 'Quranic' schools never understand that the Quranic higher values of Islam are peace, justice, charity, mercy, tolerance, and absolute religious freedom.

4/2: Those Wahabis who run and manage the so-called 'Quranic' schools never understand that Islam in terms of demeanor is peaceful behavior, security, and pacifism. We have explained this in our article, in English, titled "Islam: Religion Of Peace", found on this link: http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=6674

4/3: Those Wahabis who run and manage the so-called 'Quranic' schools never understand that (polytheism) and (disbelief) are exact synonyms in the Quran and that they denote two senses (1) deification of mortals and things, and (2) aggression, injustice, and compulsion in religion. Both senses have one Quranic term; i.e., Taghut (see our English article titled "The Meaning of Islam and the Meaning of Taghut" http://www.ahl-alquran.com/English/show_article.php?main_id=14342). This term, Taghut, applies to all theocracy-seeking Wahabis and their so-called 'Quranic' schools which urge committing bloodshed and terrorist acts to allow Wahabis to reach power in any given country.

4/4: Those Wahabis who run and manage the so-called 'Quranic' schools will never teach the Quranic facts of Islam as the Quranic Truth exposes them and proves that they are the arch-enemies of Islam (which is the Quran only).

5- Understanding Real Islam (i.e., Qurnaism) will make people realize the following facts.

5/1: Islam is essentially a secular religion; i.e., it has no room for (1) clergymen or any type of religious authority/institution, (2) manipulating religion in the political life, and (3) theocracy and theocrats who abuse religion to control, rule, and dominate over citizens in a given country.

5/2: As per Islam, citizenship in any given country is for all peaceful, non-violent, law-abiding people.

5/3: Wahabis who adhere to their wicked, devilish, violent religion of aggression and bloodshed never deserve to be citizens (as per the Islamic concept of citizenship), because their aggression is deemed as fighting against the Lord God and His Quranic teachings by spreading corruption and they deserve severe punishments unless they repent sincerely and adhere to peace, as per our understanding of the following verses: "The penalty for those who fight God and His messenger, and strive to spread corruption on earth, is that they be killed, or crucified, or have their hands and feet cut off on opposite sides, or be banished from the land. That is to disgrace them in this life; and in the Hereafter they will have a terrible torment. Except for those who repent before you apprehend them. So know that God is Forgiving and Merciful." (5:33-34).